Trees
I think that I shall never seeA poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prestAgainst the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wearA nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,But only God can make a tree.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- prest a.
- Ready; prompt; prepared. [OF. prest, F. prêt, fr. L. praestus ready. Cf. Presto.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Trees is in the public domain. This text is taken from Trees, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #263; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Joyce Kilmer, Trees, in Trees and Other Poems (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #263, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kilmer-trees/trees.html, id L12890.
Form and metre
Trees is 12 lines in 6 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, as Wikipedia: Trees (poem) has it. 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AA seeA · treeA
- 2 AA prestA · breastA
- 3 AA dayA · prayA
- 4 AA wearA · hairA
- 5 AA lainA · rainA
- 6 AA meA · treeA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I think that I shall never see | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A poem lovely as a tree. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| A tree whose hungry mouth is prest | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Against the earth's sweet flowing breast; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A tree that looks at God all day, | 8 | ········ |
| And lifts her leafy arms to pray; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A tree that may in Summer wear | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A nest of robins in her hair; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Upon whose bosom snow has lain; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Who intimately lives with rain. | 8 | ·/˘˘˘··· |
| Poems are made by fools like me, | 8 | /˘······ |
| But only God can make a tree. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.